


Shiny Smily Story

by WritingNeverending



Category: Hololive, Virtual Streamer Animated Characters
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Multiple, but good god are they a bunch of weirdos, hololive lore is buckwild y'all, sora dearly loves all her kohais
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:07:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29464752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingNeverending/pseuds/WritingNeverending
Summary: We make our choice with different voice. Oh yes, we know. Get set and GO!-----------------------------------------------------------Tokino Sora, after spending her first few months in hololive as the agency’s sole talent, will finally be joined by new recruits to her group, and she is determined to welcome her juniors with a bright smile and open arms, whoever they might be.(…and the monkey’s paw closes a finger.)
Relationships: Tokino Sora & A-Chan (Hololive)
Comments: 23
Kudos: 55





	1. Prologue

“Now then, let’s meet again in the next stream! Byeee!”

Sora continues to wave at the camera, continues to wear her brightest smile until the end card rolls up and A-chan cut the audio. She breathes a satisfied sigh. Another stream well done.

“Aaaaand that’s a wrap for today,” A-chan announces, an eye on the laptop beside her as she puts the stream on the ending countdown. The other two staff members don’t wait long before they turn off the camera and switch off the lights.

Sora takes the time to bow politely. “Thank you all so much again for helping with the stream.”

“We heard you the first twenty times, Sora,” chuckles A-chan, while the two staff members mumble their you’re welcomes. They’re already moving to pack everything up and store them away. The streaming setup in the studio might not be terribly complicated, but they clearly want to head home as soon as possible.

“And you’ll hear it twenty more times, A-chan.” Sora stretches and relaxes, a cheeky tongue poking out of her lips.

What comes next has become fairly routine for Sora ever since she joined hololive a few months ago. She’ll help tidying up as much as she can, leaving the most vital technical bits to A-chan or the other staff members. After either a tangled cable or a misplaced lens, A-chan will decide she’s getting in the way more than helping, and shoos her away to get changed. Sora will insist on staying, A-chan will get a bit mean, until Sora eventually relents and leaves first.

Give or take fifteen minutes later, A-chan will leave the studio, a pack of equipment Sora’ll need for her home setup slung over one shoulder, where Sora will greet her in the break room, already changed to a casual, comfier outfit. Sora will thank the staff for their hard work, again, and bids them good day and goodbye. A-chan is much more casual about the process, more subdued, but the small salutes she gives to her coworkers as she leaves with Sora still conveys her gratitude and respect.

“Did we do good?” Sora asks as the elevator display crawls from three to two.

“Not bad. We peaked at around three hundred viewers, I think,” A-chan answers, a little distracted by something on her phone.

Sora hums. Something about that number rings a bell. “That’s about the capacity of the auditorium back in high school, right?” she tries.

“Uh, yeah?” The question comes out of nowhere enough that A-chan turns to look at Sora curiously. “Why do you remember that?”

“It was where I did my first live. Technically.” Sora puffs out her chest, stands on her tiptoes for a second. “You never forget your first.”

A-chan rolls her eyes, fondly, the memory twinkling in those light blues like stars, before her attention returns to her phone. “Technically.” 

There is a ding, and the elevator door opens. Sora has to link her arm around A-chan’s to stop her from bumping into the elevator panel, or into the woman waiting just outside, or the wet floor sign in the middle of the corridor. Something on her phone is really taking up all her attention.

“Oh, speaking of,” A-chan starts, not looking up from her phone. “Don’t forget about that Twister punishment game on Wednesday.”

“I don’t think the chat is going to let me forget,” Sora muses. Her chat is always sent into a tizzy whenever Twister is mentioned, for some reason. 

Sora remembers something about the game. Something interesting, and helpful. She steals a glance at A-chan, still engrossed by her phone, takes a breath, and goes for it. “You know, I heard Twister is even more fun when you’re playing it with someone else.”

A-chan doesn’t look up, but she does stop reading whatever it is on her phone. There is a gleam in her eyes, in the way they dart about for a split second, that clues Sora in. “I heard that too,” A-chan only says, even though she definitely knows where Sora is going with this.

Sora keeps her voice and tone even. “A-chan.”

This time, A-chan does look up. She stops, even. They both do, right before the exit to the parking lot. Sora gives A-chan a subtle smile, loosening her hold on A-chan’s arm, hoping she doesn’t come across as pushy or needy. Hoping she’ll come across only as a girl who wants to have fun with her dear friend.

A-chan averts her eyes, and Sora’s heart sinks a little. “Being on camera like you do, everyday… that takes a certain kind of courage. Courage that I just don’t have,” she says, and the gap between them widens by an inch. Then she peeks up over the rim of her glasses. “I’m perfectly happy with just helping you behind the scenes, Sora. That hasn’t changed.” 

Sora is prepared for this, and tells herself she isn’t disappointed. “Okay.”

“And it’s _your_ punishment game. Don’t go around dragging innocent bystanders into it.”

They share a chuckle, and step outside, leaving the hololive building and the uncomfortable conversation behind, arms no longer linked.

It’s not a terribly long walk from the office to the station, and Sora knows the way by heart, so she allows her eyes and her mind to wander. Allows herself to indulge in the tightness of her chest.

She’ll ask A-chan about this again, for sure. When enough time has passed for her to either forget or to get her hopes up again. Or when the ice creeping into her chest and the lump clogging her throat becomes unbearable. It feels strange to say that she’s lonely, even though A-chan and other staff members are always there with her, for her, just behind the camera. Feels silly. Feels selfish. But, as she heard once, the heart will want what it wants. And her heart wants to not be alone, wants someone to be there with her on the stage.

The walk is over in a flash, and suddenly Sora finds herself on the station platform, the announcement of their usual train’s arrival blaring overhead. The train rolls in, Sora waits for the passengers inside to file out, and takes three steps before realizing A-chan is not walking beside her.

She turns, and sees A-chan a few paces behind, head down, eyes glued to her phone. She hesitates for a split second - being rough simply isn’t in her nature - but she stomps back and drags A-chan by the arm. The two manage to make it inside only a second before the door closes.

“A-chan, don’t zone out like that,” scolds Sora, but she quickly softens. “This isn’t like you. Is everything okay?”

A-chan gets a little red in the cheeks. “Oh, no, yeah, everything’s fine. Sorry if I made you worry, Sora,” she mumbles, waving off nonexistent flies. “It’s just… management stuff.”

Sora tilts her head. “I’ve seen what management stuff does to you, and it’s not this.” 

“Right. Um.” A-chan stiffly points to the seats. “Let’s sit down first?”

Sora raises an eyebrow, but nods. Thankfully, this line is never terribly crowded at this time of day, so empty seats are aplenty. They sit down next to one another, and Sora waits for A-chan to start. A minute later, as the train slices through the heart of Tokyo, she does.

“So, Sora. A bit of news you should know.” A-chan is talking slowly, carefully. Almost like she’s worried. “Management is thinking of expanding the hololive label.”

“Oh?” Sora’s eyes widen, hairs suddenly standing on end. “Expand it how?”

“By recruiting a new member.”

It takes a second for the sentence to register. And another second for all that sentence implies to hit her like a bullet. Sora isn’t sure if she wants to gawk, or cheer, or do a little twirling dance in the middle of the train car. “Oh, goodness,” she simply says.

A-chan continues, but without meeting Sora’s eyes. “The idea of recruiting a second member has been brewing in the background for a while now, but at the start of this month, for whatever reason, management suddenly decided to… accelerate it.”

“Accelerate it,” Sora repeats. For her own sake. “As in… you’ll start recruiting soon?”

“As in… we kinda already have.”

A distant, very distant part of her regrets having this conversation in public, if only because squealing like a banshee and pulling A-chan into a bear hug right now would attract a lot of unwanted attention.

“It’s not _quite_ official yet. There’s still some paperwork to be filled out here and there, but, yeah. Management just sorta… found a very promising candidate and, uh… let’s just say, they more or less hired her on the spot.” A-chan coughs, voice lowering to just above a whisper. “She’s… interesting. Definitely going to turn some heads, that’s for sure.”

Sora almost blurts that she doesn’t care - she’ll be happy to work together with the new member no matter who she is - but A-chan shoots her an apologetic look that stops her.

“I’m so sorry, I would’ve told you all of this sooner, I swear. It just- god, it all happened so fast…” she trails off, cringing like she usually does when she thinks she’s talked for too long. “Um. What do you think?”

Sora takes a deep breath to calm down, because she knows if she releases all the excitement building in her chest at once she’ll blow out the ears of everyone in this car. She doesn’t hug A-chan, but she still clamps her hands down on A-chan’s shoulders. “I think this is amazing!”

A-chan freezes for a beat, then breathes out a laugh. Relief adorns the smile on her lips. The sight makes Sora’s own smile grow even wider. Enough to make her eyes water. She has to pat her cheeks, as if coaxing the smile from splitting her face.

“Oh, goodness. I’m going to have juniors again, like back in high school!” Sora’s basically bouncing up and down in her seat. It really does feel like she’s a high school girl again. “This is so exciting!”

Another breathy laugh as A-chan leans back. “Yeah. Guess you could see it that way.”

“What’s she like?”

A-chan’s smile freezes, then falls. “I… can’t really tell you just yet.”

That doesn’t quite bring the mood down, but it is an odd, unexpected bump. “You… can’t? Why?” Sora asks.

“Oh. You know. Just a couple dozen NDAs.” The last sentence rolls out of A-chan at double speed, and she continues just as quickly. “But I’m sure she’s going to be a delight to work with! She must be a pretty pleasant person, at least. Can’t imagine anyone would tune into a streamer without any charm.”

Sora narrows her eyes. Connects the dots. “You haven’t met her before?”

“I… sort of met her. In a way,” A-chan answers, but once again only leaving Sora with more questions. A-chan must’ve noticed, because she continues, “Again. Everything’s moving really fast. And we have to keep a lot of things under wraps. We don’t really have any other choice, if we want her to join us. Just- wait a week or two. Everything’ll be clearer then.” 

Sora nods. She still thinks it’s odd, to be this secretive and to have so many precautions. Nothing like this happened when she first joined hololive. But she won’t pretend to be well-versed in the recruitment process of a talent agency, so she’ll simply place her faith on A-chan and the management to know what they are doing.

A-chan makes a little noise, remembering something. “That goes for you too, now. Keeping this a secret, I mean. If you let slip that we’re recruiting a new member before we make any official announcements, we’ll be in a lot of trouble.”

Sora nods again, with a reassuring smile this time. “My lips are sealed,” she promises.

A-chan stares at her for a beat, then reaches out to close an imaginary zipper over her lips. “There. Just to be sure.”

Sora giggles, but indulges her, not letting her mouth open. It’s silly. It’s great.

When the train reaches her stop, Sora’s so bubbly and lost in thought that she almost forgot to take her streaming equipment from A-chan. She pushes the pack into Sora’s hands with a smirk, and walks with her to the door. A-chan’s stop is still three stations down, so it becomes customary for Sora to bid her farewell first. Not that they have any other choice.

Sora turns, standing behind the line. “You’re going to tune into my karaoke stream tomorrow?”

“Missing Tokino Sora’s singing stream? Wouldn’t think of it,” A-chan smoothly says, hands crossed. She’s always cute when she gets the chance to act cool.

An announcement blares overhead. A few people file inside the train a couple cars ahead. None on this door though. Just how Sora liked it.

“See you later,” A-chan calls out as the doors begin to close. “Senpai.”

When the train speeds off, she feels so light she thought she’ll get carried off by the wind.

A second member. Someone to stand on stage with her. It feels too perfect, almost. Unreal. Like it’s a dream. But her life has always felt like a dream ever since she joined hololive, so she’s willing to accept this as reality, and not just her unconscious mind playing tricks on her in her sleep. And now she’s bold enough to dream even more. What if management doesn’t stop at two? What if they decide to recruit a third member? Or a fourth? Or maybe even a fifth?

Whoever they are, wherever they come from, however many they might be, Sora will welcome them all with a bright smile and open arms.

Tokino Sora, soon no longer the sole talent in hololive, takes her first step into a brand new story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I’m definitely not the first one to think, “What would hololive look like as an anime?” but I haven’t seen very many people actually try to explore the idea, so this is my take on it.
> 
> Deciding Sora as the main protag is a no-brainer, but actually writing her turned out to be pretty tricky. Having A-chan with her definitely helped, and the few clips I managed to find of the two interacting together has been a godsend. I think you can kinda tell already what aspect of Sora I’m going to focus on. 
> 
> Anyway. Other holomembers will show up in future chapters, in case you can’t already tell. Absolutely excited to dive into the bizarre playground that is the hololive lore. 
> 
> Next up, a high-spec robot enters the stage. 
> 
> If y’all want to follow my writing and any other random stuff that I get up to, check out my tumblr right [here](https://chronicler-of-legends.tumblr.com/)!


	2. High-Spec Robot

Today’s the day.

And it starts with A-chan sending her a text early in the morning, telling her that she’ll be running a little late, that Sora should wait for her in the parking lot, and that she absolutely _should not_ enter the building without A-chan. Capitalized, boldened, italized, and underlined.

Sora stares at the message numbly for a full minute, before the gears in her head starts to turn again. She rapidly thumbs a reply, demanding A-chan explain what the heck her message is supposed to mean. Five minutes later, not even so much as a read.

Sora puts her phone face down and huffs. First, there’s the endless line of paperwork to read over and sign. Then came the tedious background checks, where the questions range from the normal to the ridiculous, like whether she had a criminal record or even her parents’ political leanings. Then there’s the days where she couldn’t use the studio at all because a group of strange men had to ‘secure the area’, whatever that’s supposed to mean. And now, these last few days, A-chan is never around, and has been basically impossible to contact. She always considered herself a patient person, but frankly, she’s reaching her limit.

And yet. None of that is enough to kill the butterflies fluttering in her stomach. Not today. She’s going to meet her new junior for the first time, after all.

Sora deletes her first message. _Gotcha_ , she sends instead, before letting the phone flop down to her bed and skipping her way to the bathroom.

* * *

Breakfast tasted great, the sky was a clear, stark blue, and the train was empty, as if the world is giving Sora compensation for all the strange things she dealt with these past two weeks. She’s only a stranger shooting her a passing compliment away from dancing all the way from the station to the office. It’s really only the possibility of more strange shenanigans waiting for her when she gets there that stops her.

The building looks the same as ever. Five stories tall, uniformly white like the others in the block. The parking lot is mostly vacant, save for a pair of grey sedans. The temptation to sneak a peek inside is there, of course, but Tokino Sora always keeps her promises, so she stands and waits in the parking lot, like A-chan said to.

Her eyes are glued to the front door, waiting for A-chan to emerge, so she jumps a little when a hand suddenly taps her shoulder from behind. “Hey, sorry. Didn’t wait long, did you?” a familiar voice asks, worn, and slightly out of breath.

Sora turns on her heels with a cheeky retort at the ready, but what she sees scatters the words to the wind.

“Oh, goodness! A-chan, did you sleep at all?”

A-chan blinks slowly, rubs her eyes with the back of her hand. Sora hasn’t seen them adorned with so many dark bags under it since cram school. “Eh. You know. Got in an hour or two.”

“That is… not nearly enough.” Sora places a hand on A-chan’s shoulder, and feels more bone than meat under her fingers. “You really should lie down.”

A-chan smiles with no joy behind it. “Nope! No need, Sora. I’m good, I’m happy, life is wonderful.”

“Um. Okay.” Sora steps back, but doesn’t quite let go of her shoulder. If A-chan takes a step and stumbles, she’s ready. She glances haltingly at the building’s entrance. “S-should we go in then?”

“Uh huh, yep. Just- just three more things to sign. Three? Four. Four more things to sign.” A-chan paws for her pack in a daze for a few tries, but eventually succeeds, and pulls out a black binder and a pen. “Already read it for you. They’re all on the up and up.”

Sora swore this morning she’ll throw a fit if she sees one more scrap of paperwork, but seeing A-chan in this state, she swallows all her complaints and signs them all without a word.

A-chan doesn’t stumble or anything - her step is surprisingly stable - but Sora never lets go from her shoulder, just in case. “Can you tell me anything yet about our new talent?” she asks, once they’re inside the building.

A-chan stares ahead for a long second, expression unreadable, and just when Sora thought she won’t open her mouth, she does. “Her name is Roboco.”

And that’s it. Her lips close again. But that’s already more than what she got in weeks. The name does strike Sora as an odd one, though. An alias, perhaps?

The elevator dings, the door opens, and the butterflies in her stomach takes flight in a frenzy as she steps inside. Just a few more seconds, and she’ll be able to meet her junior in the flesh! Her day is only set to soar even higher from that point.

“Hey. Before we go in.” A-chan’s voice rings in the silence of the elevator, heavy, and indescribably different than the A-chan that Sora knows. It’s scary, and not in the way that she likes. “This world is a lot weirder than you know.”

Before Sora can cope with the sudden pit opening in her stomach sucking in all the butterflies, the elevator opens, and she hears unfamiliar voices coming from down the hallway. A-chan perks up from her dead-eyed gaze, and rushes out. Sora follows, lagging slightly behind, newfound dread slowing her down.

The office is buzzing with activity unlike anything she’s seen before, with people darting to and fro like the place is on fire. A couple are staff members she’s familiar with, but most are strange people in dark suits that she’s never met before. And in the midst of the chaos, stands a girl not terribly shorter than Sora, with a short mop of brown-red hair framing her face and a loose-fitting grey camo jacket hugging her form. She’s fidgeting in place, expression locked in a frown, distracted by all the people rushing around her that she doesn’t notice A-chan and Sora enter the room.

Sora sucks in a breath, and smiles wide enough for her cheeks to feel it, dread dissipating to nearly nothing. This has to be her - Roboco. Sora steps forward, past a bewildered A-chan, ready with a greeting, but the girl must have caught Sora approaching from the corner of her eye, because she turns and beats her to it.

“Sorry, have you seen my arm?”

Sora pauses, the first syllable of a hello hanging from her lips, and makes a noise and tilts her head. Then she notices that the left sleeve of Roboco’s jacket is empty.

She makes a different kind of noise, and remembers a bit embarrassingly late not to stare. “N-no, afraid not,” she sputters a beat later.

Roboco huffs, distraught eyes darting about again. “Knew I shouldn’t have removed it in an unknown environment. I take my eyes off it for one second and now everything’s a mess. I’m just the worst.” 

Sora blinks, recomposes herself while Roboco isn’t looking. Her first meeting with her junior, and the first thing she does is stare. It’s like her manners are thrown out the window. “I can help look, if you want,” she offers, smiling again.

“You would? Oh, thank you so much.” Roboco’s worried frown leaves for a second, and it warms Sora’s heart. This is how a senpai should act. Willing to help her junior with anything, even something like finding her prosthe-

“Last I saw, it crawled under that table, but it can be anywhere at this point.”

Yet another different noise - this one makes her sound like she’s choking. “C-crawl…?”

Roboco nods - and there’s an odd, faint whirring noise every time she moves - oblivious to how Sora freezes. “It’s programmed to seek safe shelter if it ever gets separated from me. That’s why I asked the staff to check under desks or behind drawers. It shouldn’t have that many places to hide here but, _ugh_ , it can move so fast, I swear.”

A hand wrapping around Sora’s bicep breaks the ice rooting her in place. A-chan steps a little closer, tugging her arm, subtly pointing at the backroom with her eyes. Sora doesn’t need much more prompting.

“Hey, we’re… going to check the pantry for your… arm.”

Roboco is peeking behind a bookshelf, and doesn’t look back when she calls out, “Be careful, the automated defense system is active. If you spot it, don’t make any moves that can be considered threatening.” 

Oh, goodness.

When the pantry door closes behind them, Sora turns to face A-chan, a million ways to start rushing through her head, but what ends up coming out is something blank, flat, and simple.

“A-chan.”

A-chan stiffly shrugs. “Uh. Yeah. She’s a robot.”

“A… okay.” Sora nods just as stiff, not unlike a robot. That explains the name, at least. There’s just one problem. “I’m not terribly plugged in to tech stuff, but last I checked, robots have never looked like… that.”

“Y-yeah. Exactly. That’ll turn some heads, right?” A-chan tries to crack a grin, but it’s not fooling anyone.

“Turn _whose_ heads? The government’s?”

Sora’s not entirely serious with her outburst, so it’s extremely alarming when A-chan responds with, “A, uh, few heads will probably be the government’s, yes. But that’s what all the paperwork is for. Make sure they recognize her as her own person, with free will and all that fun stuff. All they can do is look, never touch.”

It’s weird how feeling light and feeling faint can feel so similar, and yet so distinctly different. Sora regrets not sitting down first before starting this conversation. Best she can do right now is lean against the cupboard. This feels like a dream, but only because she’s still barely, _barely_ on the fence on labeling this as a nightmare.

“What did we get ourselves into…?” she breathes, too low for A-chan to hear. Next, she steadies herself best she can, and makes sure she’s audible. “H-how did management even find someone like her?”

A-chan starts surprisingly easily, “Well, the story goes, the CEO was out exploring when he got lost in some random wasteland, which also happened to be where Roboco was living at the time. So then the two ran into each other, and he offered her a job.”

Sora waits for two seconds, five seconds, ten seconds for A-chan to continue, only for her expression to contort in horror and disbelief when she realizes that that’s the end of the story. “No. You’re kidding. That’s it?”

“He… didn’t elaborate.” A-chan’s lips twist, unhappy yet resigned all the same. “You can try and ask Roboco about it, if that’s something that she wants to talk about. We can’t force anything out of her. That’s also part of the deal.”

Sora stumbles in place, but her back catches the wall just in time for her legs to give out, so she slides down instead of falling on her butt. She stares into the checkered pattern on the floor, the gears in her brain struggling to turn under the weight of _everything_ it had to endure in the past ten minutes.

“Yeah, that’s par for the course. Took me a while to get used to it, too. Just ride it out, take your time.” A-chan squats down next to her, quietly, patiently waiting.

The gears eventually turn just enough for her to realize something. “Oh gosh, you’ve been dealing with this for weeks.”

A-chan chuckles, which is nice to hear and calms her nerves. “You see now why I didn’t say anything?” she says, with no small amount of amusement. A part of her must be happy to finally share this with Sora. To see Sora’s reaction. “Even if I wasn’t buried in NDAs, I doubt you’ll believe me unless you see it yourself.”

That’s fair. Sora’s still working on the believing part herself. “I’m…” she ends up chuckling too. Really, what else is there to do? “I was so ready for today to surprise me, but this is…”

“Don’t know how else to break it to you, Sora. The second member of hololive - your very first junior - is the most sophisticated robot on the planet,” A-chan smoothly says, voice remarkably even and dry. “Who also happens to be a pretty cute girl.”

Very correctly, succinctly summarized. This all reminds Sora of an old story she read once, from overseas. About the monkey’s paw. She doesn’t remember the details much, but be careful what you wish for, is the point. Maybe this is the trade-off. The price to pay for wishing so hard to have someone share the stage with her.

“Sora, please don’t panic.”

Sora sighs, massaging the bridge of her nose. “I’m not panicking, I’m just-”

“No, no, no, I mean.” A-chan’s voice is tight. On the verge of panicking herself. “Don’t move. And don’t panic.”

When Sora lifts her eyes from the floor, A-chan is leaning away from her, looking ready to jump away like a loaded spring. Sora opens her mouth, but says nothing, as she notices that A-chan isn’t looking at her. She is looking over her shoulder.

Sora slowly, carefully turns her head. Peeking out from under the cupboard behind her, she spots a shadow lying in wait like a predator poised to strike, shaped not unlike an arm.

“I-I’ll go tell Roboco.”

“Yes, please.”

* * *

The way Roboco’s face lights up when she is reunited with her arm is very cute, and Sora tries not to stare as she reattaches the limb and does a few experimental stretches with it. A-chan beside her seems to be faring better in taking this in stride, perhaps that’s her experience showing. It’s still a little hard to believe that the girl before her is a robot, but knowing what she knows now, Sora starts to notice some of the less obvious signs, like the faint whirring noises she makes every time she moves, or how her movements are just a touch too stilted to be human, or the way her pupils shrink and dilate exactly like a camera lens. 

Then Roboco freezes. Sora hears a faint whirr, and a rapid series of beeps, before Roboco suddenly snaps to face her, and bows deeply.

“I am so, so, _so_ sorry! This is absolutely not how I wanted our first meeting to go!”

“It was no trouble at all. Please, no need to bow like that with me.” Sora smiles. Thankfully, Roboco is quick to follow her words. “Really, when do things ever go the way we want to, right?”

Roboco’s eyes gleam with awe, and at that moment, they are no different than any human’s. “I knew you’re a kind person, Sora-senpai, but this exceeds even my most generous predictions.”

Strange as it is to put it, Sora still asks, surprised, “You know me?”

“Yes! I have set aside some time to process all of your past broadcasts. Your kindness is among one of the first things I detected,” Roboco explains, smiling, until she blinks, and the smile falls. “O-oh, wait, shoot, I haven’t even introduced myself properly!”

Roboco moves as if to bow again, but there’s a beep, and she straightens herself almost sheepishly. “My name is Roboco! It’s an honor to finally meet you in person, senpai! I hope we can work together well!” Another beep, and she shoots a hand out for a handshake.

Sora spends a split second to brace, but she happily accepts Roboco’s hand. It isn’t cold, like she expected. It’s warm, like a human’s, although the texture is anything but. “Well then, um. I’m Tokino Sora. It’s nice to meet you, Roboco. I hope so too.” The way she moves her hand up and down is strange, awkward, like this is a new experience for her. Sora steps back and taps A-chan’s shoulder. “And this here is A-chan. You’ll be working together plenty with her, too.”

Roboco shifts her gaze towards A-chan. Her pupils shrink and dilate, then she bows again. “It’s nice to meet you too, A-chan.”

“Pleasure.” A-chan nods politely.

“I take it you’re a member of the staff?”

“And more.” Sora’s arm lowers to link around A-chan’s. “She is my best friend, manager, technical support, and partner.”

Roboco tilts her head. “Partner…?” A whirr, and a beep. “Oh!” She averts her gaze. To Sora’s surprise, her cheeks gain a hint of red. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that Sora-senpai already has a partner.”

Sora blinks. “Eh?”

“Congratulations, A-chan. Anyone is lucky to be with Sora-senpai.” Roboco smiles, shyly, if a robot can even be shy.

A-chan recoils away from Sora like she’s been electrocuted. “Not-!” She bites down hard, swallowing whatever words that nearly slipped out, face suddenly very red. Coughing, she tugs at the collar of her shirt. “It’s- we’re not _that_ kind of partners.”

Sora looks back and forth between a blushing A-chan and a sheepish Roboco. All she can offer is a confused, “Huh?”

“Anyway! Sora, you have a stream after this. A bit of chatting, a bit of singing, plus announcing Roboco’s debut.” A-chan points stiffly in the direction of the studio. “So I’m just gonna. Go prepare that.”

A-chan’s pace is brisk; she’s out of the room before Sora can get another word in. Two of the men that have been hovering at a respectable distance follow her out. The rest stays put. Silently. It’s a little unnerving.

Sora decides her attention is best spent on Roboco.

“Nervous?” Sora starts.

Roboco exhales a chuckle. “Absolutely.”

“That’s fine! Everyone does.”

Roboco makes a little noise, like she’s disagreeing. 

“Technically, disabling the function is possible. Just takes a bit of tinkering.” Roboco taps a spot on the back of her neck, shooting Sora a meaningful look. Sora nods along, trying not to look _too_ put off by everything Roboco just implied. “But… I won’t. All that’ll do is take away from the experience.”

“The experience?”

“Of living.” Roboco smiles. An undeniably sincere, genuine, human smile. “I want to live life as authentic as possible. Live life like you do, senpai.”

That hit Sora, deep, right in the heart.

What she wants to do next suddenly feels necessary, even though it’s a giant leap into the unknown, even though she is definitely overstepping her capabilities. Sora takes Roboco’s hand in hers, and says, “This is… I’ll be honest and say that today kind of blindsided me. It’s nothing like what I expected, _you’re_ nothing like what I expected. I’m not sure what’ll happen next, or how to get through it, but what I do know, is that I’m your senpai now. That means I’ll do all I can to help you, to live your life however you want it.”

Her heart is at her throat, thundering in her ears, and she briefly wonders if Roboco can sense it somehow. Wonders if Roboco feels the same trepidation. It’s a bold declaration - one that she’s unsure if she can keep, but one that she needs to make nonetheless. If this is the hand that life has dealt her, then she’ll make lemonade out of lemons and happily stand on stage with Roboco. After all, she swore she’ll welcome her junior with her brightest smile and open arms, and Tokino Sora always keeps her promises.

“Senpai…” Roboco’s smile wavers, but in the best way, as her free hand clutches her chest. “You really are too kind. I… I’ll be crying now if I have the function.”

Sora chuckles. “Oh, I doubt I’ll be the only one. A-chan, the other staff members, your future viewers; I’m sure they’ll be happy to help too!”

“But you really are, senpai.” Roboco’s eyes fall on their clasped hands, and her fingers tighten ever so slightly. “I’m not oblivious. I’m aware I must be quite the irregularity in your life. Despite that, you strive to treat me like how you’d treat anyone. Like I’m… someone normal. No one’s ever treated me like that before.”

Oh, goodness. Now _she’s_ feeling a little teary-eyed. It feels nice to be appreciated, and seeing Roboco like this, so soft and vulnerable - the urge to pull her into a big bear hug has never been higher.

“I mean, you haven’t even said anything about me not wearing pants!”

Sora blinks. “Hm?”

Then she looks down, and shrieks.

Roboco giggles.

“Well. That one is understandable.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of these days I should check if the monkey’s paw story is known in Japan or not.
> 
> Anyway. This was fun to do. We all know Sora’s kind to a fault, but if we make all the lore stuff canon, don’t you feel like her worldview is going to get shattered several times over? That’s really fun to explore. It does suck a bit that neither Sora nor A-chan swear. They kinda deserve to.
> 
> Also, just wanna add, for this fic I actually went back and watched Sora’s very first video. It’s an experience, I can tell you that. Y’all should check it out if you have the time. It’s got English subtitles and everything.
> 
> Next up, Roboco’s streaming career begins.
> 
> If y'all are interested in seeing me gush about vtubers for some reason, I'm @wilisdone over on twitter.


End file.
